Alliance's Masonic lodges aim to make good men better

Centuries after emerging in Europe, Freemasonry is just one of the world's secular fraternities now struggling to recruit new members.

Alliance has two Masonic lodges, and neither of them define themselves as a secret society, a religion, or comprised of elitists. However, each lodge is based on a series of relationships.

The Masonic Service Association (MSA) has tracked membership figures for Masons in the United States since 1925. "Even at our membership's lowest point in 1941, Freemasonry still had 800,000 more members than today," according to its website.

"Change is the one constant, and Freemasons have done little to keep pace with change," the Steering Committee of the Masonic Information Center concluded, attributing the decline to the organization's "passive approach to recruiting" as well as failing to dispel misconceptions about the fraternity.

For example, Freemasons have a tradition of waiting for prospective members to ask about the organization rather than soliciting them. And opposition has been strong to changing that approach.

Between the membership aging and dying as well as busy lifestyles that complicate time commitments, they want time together rather than separate functions to attend. After all, Masonic lodges continue their long-standing tradition of extending membership only to men, even though women can belong to Eastern Star, Amaranth or the White Shrine of Jerusalem.

Both of Alliance's lodges are described as blue lodges, due to the color of the trim on their aprons, which confer the first three degrees of Masonry (apprentice, fellowcraft and the master Mason, all based on the level of knowledge they garnered). Members then progress to the next level as members of the Scottish Rite, York Rite or Shriners.

While the Conrad Lodge had to discontinue its Eastern Star years back, Alliance's Prince Hall Lodge maintains both a successful Order of the Eastern Star and its Rainbow Girls program.

Then there are the financial responsibilities associated with membership.

The goal is not to find or create the perfect man, but only to make good men better.